Newport News company is in an expansive mood

Newport News-based Perfect Commerce is having a near perfect year, thanks to an expansion in operations. The software company added four data centers in Chicago, England, Australia and Germany as well as four operation centers in England, Germany, New Zealand, and India. It also launched satellite offices in Malaysia, the Philippines and China.

“In the first half of this year we brought on over 30 new customers and increased our user count in Europe and Asia-Pacific by over 50 percent,” says Hampton Wall, the company’s president and CEO. “The additions of the new data and operation centers come as a direct result of this growth and are necessary to support our ability to provide the high levels of service and customer care that Perfect is known for.”

The company provides procurement, sourcing and supplier network software and services. Its software is available in 12 languages.

When Wall and other investors bought the company in 2007, it had eight locations around the globe but was losing customers. Wall closed all five of the company’s U.S. offices and opened an office in Newport News that would serve as the company’s headquarters. He consolidated the three offices overseas into a European headquarters in Paris. “It took three years,” he says, noting that the company had a 99 percent renewal rate in 2010. “We were smaller, leaner and good at taking care of our customers. We were dependable and focused on customer care and retention.”

Perfect Commerce has a direct sales force and also works with partners/resellers around the globe. “You have to have local people who speak the local language and have a footprint in those countries,” Wall says, adding that part of the company’s growth can be attributed to the absorption of partnerships. “We absorbed partners in New Zealand, Australia and Germany.”

The company now has operations in seven countries — the U.S., England, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, France and India. Revenues rose 40 percent the first eight months of 2013 compared with the same time period in 2012.
Wall is already eyeing further expansions. “Asia is the next frontier,” he says.